Bad Day at the ER
by mcatB
Summary: Sappy romance during Mulder's trip to the ER


Title: Bad Day at the ER   
Author: Mady - mbay@binghamton.edu   
Date: 02-18-98   
Rating: PG   
Category: MSR (Warning! Warning Will Robinson! Shipper alert! There be mushy stuff ahead!) Angst too!   
Spoilers: None   
Summary: Another trip to the ER turns into a crisis for our dynamic duo. 

"God, Mulder, only you would break a rib playing basketball with six year olds." Scully admonished as she drove him to the ER. 

"Well nobody told me your nephews play full contact basketball, Scully," he retorted painfully. "They don't just play offense either, they shoot to kill! Aaah!" Mulder hugged his ribs tighter. "Watch those potholes, Scully." 

"Sorry, we're almost there." 

She eyed him closely. She really had enjoyed watching him play with the boys. He was so good with kids. 'I guess because he's still a little kid himself, sometimes' she thought. She wondered if he'd be that good with their own kids someday-'whoa Dana! We're jumping the gun a little bit here aren't we?' the little voice inside her head spoke. 'Yeah, like you need to have a date with him first. Hell, you have to admit to him how you feel first. Shit, it's so complicated!' her little voice continued. 

"Scully! You're missing the turn!" Mulder roused her from her thoughts. 

"Sorry." She pulled into the ER patient parking area. She got out to help Mulder out of the passenger seat. 

"I can do it, Scully, it's not that bad," he said through gritted teeth. But as he got out, he doubled over in pain. 

"Mulder!" Scully lurched forward, but Mulder just put up his hand to stop her. He closed his eyes and caught his breath. Slowly, he stood up semi-straight and let Scully guide him to the ER entrance doors. 

Remarkably, for a Saturday morning, there weren't too many people in the ER. They were greeted by an admitting nurse, and she sat them down at a small desk. 

"Name?" she asked. 

"Mulder, Fox Mulder," Scully answered for him. 

"Has Mr. Mulder ever been a patient here before?" 

"Oh, yeah. Many times," Scully answered, getting a snide look from Mulder. 

"Ookay. Let's look him up on the computer. Here we are. Any change in address or insurance since your last visit?" she asked. 

"No." Mulder moaned. 

"And what is the problem today?" 

"I think he's got a broken rib. He fell playing basketball," Scully again answered for him. 

"I didn't fall, I was tackled" he corrected her. 

'These two are going to be fun' thought the admitting nurse. "Okay, why don't you sign these admitting forms here Mr. Mulder and we'll have someone look at you shortly." The nurse handed him the papers and pen, and Mulder signed them. Scully led him over to a chair in the waiting room. 

After about half an hour Mulder's name was called and he and Scully were escorted to an examining room. The nurse that led them there closed the door and started to read his chart. 

"Hi, my name is Marcy. Mr. Mulder, it says here you have a possible broken rib?" 

"Yeah," Mulder answered. 

"Okay, why don't you take off your sweatshirt awhile and have a seat on the exam bed." 

Marcy and Scully saw Mulder start to take off his sweatshirt and struggle, not getting far due to the pain his movements caused. The two women quickly went to him. 

"Here, Mulder, let us do it. Just relax," Scully soothed. 

"We could cut it," Marcy started, but the look Mulder gave her stopped her from getting the scissors. 

"It's his brand new Knicks sweatshirt," Scully explained, "he'd rather suffer first, I'm sure." 

So, between the three of them, they got the sweatshirt off in one piece, with only a few painful hisses and yelps from Mulder. 

"Do you think you'd be more comfortable lying down Mr. Mulder?" Marcy asked. 

"I don't know. I think I'll play it safe and stay where I am," he answered. 

"Alright." 

Scully was a little surprised by how big the bruise on his left side had gotten. Marcy took note of it and started taking his vital signs. 

"How do they look?" Scully asked, trying to peer at Marcy's notes. When Marcy gave her a quizzical look, Scully replied "I'm a doctor." 

"Everything's a little elevated, but that's to be expected considering the injury and it's accompanying pain," Marcy told her. "Doctor Gregg should be in shortly, along with the techs from x-ray." Marcy told them as she headed for the door. 

"Thanks," Mulder and Scully said simultaneously. 

"I'm sorry, Scully" Mulder moaned. 

"Why? You didn't do anything wrong." 

"Its just that we finally get a day to spend together NOT working, fulfilling that promise to your mom to spend time and have dinner with her and I get banged up. Again." 

"Oh, Mulder, the day is still early and there's plenty of time for my mom's dinner. You'll just have to eat it in bed instead." She tried to be cheerful. 

"Who's bed?" he asked, raising his eyebrows. 

"Now I know you're going to be well enough for dinner as well as dessert," she said, while giving him one of her own raised eyebrow looks. He was just about to ask what was for dessert when Marcy and Dr. Gregg walked in. 

  
"Mr. Mulder, I'm Dr. Gregg." He extended his hand and Mulder shook it as best he could. Mulder then introduced Scully.

"This is my personal physician, Dr. Dana Scully." 

Dr. Gregg was about to question Scully when they heard a gunshot and screaming from outside the room. Mulder jumped off the exam table and Scully was about to grab her purse, and thus her gun, when a man with gun to a nurse's head entered their room. 

"Don't anybody move! I'll shoot her! Just like I shot Joe!" 

The man was dressed shabbily and reeked of alcohol. The man gripped the nurse tighter around her collar. She was crying uncontrollably, afraid of being shot like her coworker had already been. Dr. Gregg stepped forward before Mulder or Scully had a chance to. 

"Frank, listen. Put the gun down. Let-" 

"No! Back off Steve, or Sandy dies too!" 

"Frank-" Dr. Gregg started again. 

"I'm not leaving here without my job! That son of a bitch Canton fired me for no goddam reason!" he shouted, now pointing the gun at Dr. Gregg. 

Dr. Gregg backed off. Mulder, disregarding his pain, now started to talk, as Scully again started toward her purse. 

"Sir? Sir, maybe there's something we can do to end this before -" 

Frank didn't let him say "anyone else get's hurt" because he shoved Mulder hard, causing him to hit the bed and fall onto the floor. 

  
"I said back off!" he screamed at Mulder. Scully and Marcy were at Mulder's side in an instant. 

"Mulder, are you alright?" Scully asked, worried. 

"Did you get it?" he asked Scully, looking directly into her eyes. 

"No, I was more worried about you," she replied.

"Mr. Mulder, are you alright?" Marcy asked. "Sure, just peachy," he replied. 

"Come on, let's get you back on the bed," Scully said, already putting one of his arms around her shoulders. 

"Easy now Mulder, let us do the work," Scully soothed.

"Not exactly what I picture when I think of two women trying to get me into- aaaah! Scully!" Mulder screamed and grabbed his chest. 

"Mulder! Oh God, Mulder!" Scully cried. Dr. Gregg started to go to Mulder's side as well. 

"Don't move!" Frank yelled at Dr. Gregg. 

"Frank, come on, a patient, an innocent bystander, is hurt. Let me help him." Dr. Gregg had his hands out to Frank, his eyes pleading. "Frank, you always helped the patients when you were here. Let me help him. Please Frank," Dr. Gregg pleaded. Frank looked over at Mulder, gasping for breath, coughing up blood. 

Scully spoke up. "He can't breathe! He'll die! Please!" she pleaded. 

Frank looked at Dr. Gregg, "Go ahead." 

Dr. Gregg went and took a quick look at Mulder. "Looks like that broken rib just punctured his lung. Let's get him on the bed." 

The three lifted Mulder as gently as they could and laid him down on the exam bed. "Dr. Scully, you get him intubated, Marcy and I will do the chest tube." 

Scully panicked, "I'm a pathologist, I haven't practiced-" 

  
"Okay, just help where you can." Dr. Gregg answered. 

Mulder was in a bit of a panic himself. The pain in his chest was excrutiating. He would have been screaming if he could have gotten the air to do it. His chest was heaving, trying to bring precious breaths into his lungs. Marcy tipped his head back, and started to insert the endotracheal tube into Mulder's throat. Mulder started to gag and tried to keep Marcy from intubating him. 

  
"Dr. Scully, hold his arms down! Talk to him, please," Marcy asked.

"Mulder, please, relax. I know it hurts. But you need this if you want to breathe, please." 

Scully was holding his hands, both to keep him from pulling the tube out and to try to soothe him as she rubbed them. While they were doing this, Dr. Gregg had been preparing to insert a chest tube into Mulder to reinflate his lung. He took Mulder's hands from Scully one by one and tied them down to the exam bed. Scully knew Mulder was panicking even more now, but she knew it had to be done. 

  
"Dr.Scully why don't you man the ambu bag as soon as Marcy gets the tube in. Marcy if you can find some morphine for Mr. Mulder, I'm sure he'd appreciate it," Dr. Gregg calmly instructed the two women.   
"Okay Mr. Mulder, here we go," Dr. Gregg continued, as he made an incision into Mulder's chest.

Mulder practically jumped off the table. Marcy handed the job of breathing for Mulder over to Scully and went to the drug cabinet in the room for the pain killer. 

  
"Almost there Mr. Mulder," Dr. Gregg said as he inserted the tube that would remove the air from Mulder's chest cavity and enable his lung to inflate again. 

Scully felt the resistance decrease on the ambu bag. "That did it!" she exclaimed.

"Good," said Dr. Gregg, "let's see if he can breathe on his own." 

Scully unhooked the ambu bag from the endotracheal tube. Mulder was able to get a few gasps of air in, but it was extremely difficult. 

  
"Not good enough. Hook it back up. Looks like he might have damaged the diaphram, too." Dr. Gregg said as he checked the bandaging around the chest tube. 

Marcy had already given Mulder the morphine and he was starting to feel the effects. He wasn't fighting as much now. 

  
"How long do you think it'll stay inflated?" Scully asked, fearing the worst. 

  
"I don't know. We'll leave the chest tube in though." 

Marcy saw Scully's hands start to shake. "Here let me take over," she said. 

Scully handed the ambu bag over to Marcy and went to Mulder's side. 

  
"Hey, how ya doin'?"

'God, Scully, it hurts! It hurts!' Mulder was screaming inside. 

She squeezed his hand as she looked into his eyes. He was crying. She knew the tube in his throat was probably hurting him, making him nauseous and wanting to gag, all at once. She was sure his chest wasn't feeling much better either. She hoped the morphine's full effect would kick in soon. 

"Just hang on Mulder, I'll get you out of here, I promise." She wiped the tears from his cheeks. 

When Mulder was stabilized, and Marcy had finished setting up an IV, Dr. Gregg turned to Frank. "Frank, please, you have to let Mr. Mulder out of here. He needs to go to the OR, SOON," he said. 

  
"I let you help him. Nothing else until Canton gets here, so shut the hell up until then, alright?!" Frank responded. 

Dr. Gregg went back to the exam bed. Mulder was asleep, now, the morphine doing more than remove the pain. Scully was thankful for that. 

  
"Here, Marcy, let me take a turn" he said as he took over pumping the ambu bag, keeping Mulder alive. 

Marcy looked over at Sandy, the nurse Frank was still holding. "How are you doing Sandy?" she asked. 

Sandy had calmed down a bit by now, but she gave Marcy a tearful, frightened look that explained it all. Marcy then turned her attention to Scully. "How about you? How are you holding up?" she asked, placing a hand on Scully's shoulder. 

"Oh, about as good as I usually do when he gets hurt. At least this time we're in the right place," she said wistfully.

  
About 20 minutes later they heard a voice from the hallway. "Mr Barnes, this is Insepector Turner from the Baltimore Police Department. I'd like to talk to you." 

Frank didn't want to hear it. "I'm only going to say this once. I'm not coming out until I talk to Canton!" 

Inspector Turner again tried talking. "Mr. Barnes, please, we can work this out. We've called Mr. Canton. He's on his way here." 

  
"And I said NO! If I even hear anybody talk to me again besides Canton, I'll shoot someone else!" 

He tightened his grip on Sandy and she started crying again. 

Over the next 45 minutes, Marcy, Dr. Gregg and Scully each took turns with the ambu bag. Frank didn't let his guard down a bit. He was also starting to sober up. Scully had hopes that if Frank was sober, he might be willing to reason. Her mind scrambled to find some way to get them out of this mess, but every plan involved her gun. Scully tried a couple more times to get to her purse, but Frank wouldn't let her move an inch. If he wasn't screaming at them to stay put he was yelling for Canton to show up. 

  
Mulder started coming to. He immediately started to fight the ties on his hands, wanting to use them to pull the endotracheal tube out. 

"Marcy, let's give Mr. Mulder another small dose of morphine," Dr. Gregg stated. Marcy started for the drug cabinets. 

  
"No!" Frank yelled. Marcy stopped in her tracks. "He doesn't get anything else until Canton shows up" Frank finished. 

Mulder opened his eyes. Scully was right there for him. "Hey" she said, caressing his cheek. "Just try to stay relaxed. Let us do the work, okay?" 

Mulder blinked his eyes, assenting. Mulder didn't think he could wait too much longer. He hated endotracheal tubes. They were bad enough when he was sedated, fully conscious as he was now was unbearable. 

'Okay, Mulder, let's get us out of this," he thought. 'I still want one of Maggie Scully's home cooked meals if I can get it,' he continued to himself. He found that thinking about trying to get out of the situation was distracting him from the pain. 'Time to get involved, time for an update,' he resolved. He moved his hand, tapping it to get Scully's attention. He gestured, showing her that he wanted to write something. Scully understood. 

  
"Have you got a pen and paper?" she asked Marcy. 

Marcy got her notepad and pen from her pocket and gave it to Scully. Scully gave Mulder the pen and positioned the notepad under his hand. 

He wrote. "Frank?" 

"Still in the corner with a gun to the nurse's head" she answered. 

"Canton?" he wrote on the next page. 

"I'm assuming an administrator" she looked at Dr. Gregg for confirmation. 

He whispered to them, "currently a drunken administrator, right now, so he won't be showing up anytime soon." 

Mulder wrote again. "Your gun?" 

  
"Still in my purse. I can't get near it," she answered. 

Dr. Gregg's eyes lit up just then. "Hey, I remember you two now. You're FBI right?" he said in a low conspirital whisper. 

Scully flashed him a "how did you know?" look. 

Mulder tapped the pen. Scully read what he had written: "Concussion, 95 softball game." 

Scully smiled, remembering him getting hit by the ball sliding into second base during the DC Law Enforcement Charity Softball Tournament. 

The next thing he wrote took the smile right off her face: "Codeword" 

  
"No Mulder, we can't," she said shaking her head.

"I'll distract," he wrote. 

  
"Mulder, we can't risk it," she said. 

But then he looked at her. She saw the pain in his eyes. Then she saw the determination in them. He raised his eyebrows, questioning her. 

  
"No, I haven't come up with anything better," she said with a sigh. 

She turned to Marcy and Dr. Gregg. "We've got a plan. Go with the flow, but be ready to get out of the way if more than fur flies, okay?" she told them. 

She looked at Mulder. "Ready?" she asked.

He blinked his eyes, assenting. 

  
She turned around and faced Frank. "Um, excuse me, sir? Sir?" she asked.

"Yeah, what do you want?" he replied, surly. 

"My friend here wants to talk to you," she pointed to Mulder. Frank gave her a disbelieving look. "He can write notes," she offered. 

  
"And just why the hell should I read his notes?" Frank asked. 

"Because he's an FBI agent and he said he could help you," she replied. 

That piqued Frank's interest. He was getting tired of waiting for Canton. Sobering up was also taking its toll and he was beginning to realize he needed a way out of the situation. So, he brought Sandy with him, still with the gun pointed at her head. He got next to Mulder, who was struggling, trying to stay calm and relaxed, which was nearly impossible to do with one tube down his throat and one in his chest. 

"So how can you help me?" Frank said, in a tone that proved he needed convincing. Mulder started writing. 

"I'm a good hostage. FBI likes me." 

Scully almost laughed out loud at the second sentence. She moved back a step and Marcy moved in a step, hoping Frank wouldn't notice the difference. Frank had Sandy turn the page so Mulder could write again. 

  
"Help get what you want." 

Scully noticed that Mulder had indeed, gotten Frank's attention. She stepped back some more and reached back into her purse. She found her weapon and placed it into the waistband of her pants, at the small of her back. 

  
"How can you help me? How can I get out of here?" Frank asked. 

Scully noticed he was paying less attention to Sandy and the others now, too. That was good. She needed him distracted. 

Mulder wrote again. "Codeword. You get everything you need." 

Frank was in close now. "And I take it you have that codeword?" he asked. 

Mulder blinked his eyes and nodded his head as best he could, considering. 

"Give it to me and no one else gets hurt" Frank said. 

Mulder started writing. He saw the anticipation in Frank's eyes. Mulder dropped the pen onto the floor. 

"Dammit! Pick it up Sandy!" Frank shouted. 

He let go of the nurse and shoved her down to the floor. At this moment Scully moved in, gun raised and pointing to Frank's chest. 

"Federal Agent! Drop your weapon!" she commanded. 

In the split second Frank took to notice Scully he raised the gun and pointed it at Mulder. Scully shot Frank in the chest, downing him, but Frank got one shot off too, hitting Mulder in the leg. Sandy, who had hidden under the exam bed as soon as she heard Scully's commands, was screaming and crying again. Luckily Marcy and Dr. Gregg kept their heads. Marcy got some gauze to put on Mulder's new injury. He was writhing in pain on the table. 

Dr. Gregg started shouting orders while he continued to pump the ambu bag. "We need some help in here! I need a portable x-ray and a respirator!" 

Several doctors, nurses and police officers crowded into the room. He continued to pump the ambu bag, without interruption until someone hooked up the respirator. 

"Easy Mr. Mulder, it's all over now. We're going to take good care of you now. Dr. Scully?" he asked, "How's Frank?" 

"He's dead. I'm sorry," she answered. 

She returned to Mulder's side. She could barely stand to look at him now, as he struggled to cope with yet another painful injury. She finally let her own tears go now, no longer able to hold them in. He tapped his hand on the notepad. She picked up the fallen pen and put it into his hand. 

He wrote, as carefully as he could, now, "I love you Dana." 

She took the note from him and was about to tell him the same when he convulsed. 

"Shit! His lung collapsed again!" Dr. Gregg cursed. 

A nurse shouted out, "BP's bottoming out!" 

Dr. Gregg swore again. He adjusted the chest tube to reinflate Mulder's lung again. "Let's get him up to the OR NOW!" he shouted. 

They wheeled Mulder away quickly, leaving Scully standing in the middle of the room, clutching the note to her chest. 

  
Inspector Turner said her name three times before she finally answered. "I'm sorry," she replied.

"It's alright, Agent Scully, I understand. You and your partner have been through a lot these past couple of hours" he said. 

  
"Thanks. I'll give you my statement now, if you wish," she told him. 

He'd heard the distress in her voice though. He knew she was only focused on one thing, one person. 

"I can get that later, when you're up to it," he said. "Right now, is there anything I can do for you? Anyone I can call?" he asked. 

  
"No, thank you. I do need to make a call, but I can do it" she replied. 

"I'll talk to you later, then," he said.

He watched her head toward the pay phones in the waiting room. Behind him, his team started taking statements from other hospital personnel. Frank Barnes' body had already been removed. 

  
An hour later, Scully was in the OR waiting room. Maggie Scully saw her daughter sitting, silently crying, in one of the chairs.

"Oh, Dana," she said, wrapping her arms around Scully's shoulders. "How's Fox? Any word yet?" she asked. 

"No. Nothing." Scully managed to get out as she started to cry into her mother's shoulder. 

"He's going to be just fine, Dana, you'll see," her mother said, stroking Scully's hair. 

"I was so scared Mom. He couldn't breathe. We had to do it for him. And then-" Scully, couldn't talk anymore. 

"Ssshh, it's alright," her mother soothed. 

"He gave me this," Scully said, handing her mother the small piece of notepaper. Maggie unfolded it carefully, and smiled when she read it. She looked at Scully, who was about to start crying again. "What?" Maggie asked. 

"I never got to tell him how I feel. That I-" Scully started. 

"That you love him too?" Maggie finished. Scully looked up at her mother, with a questioning look. "I've known that you two were in love with each other for years. It's about time you figured it out for yourselves! I didn't think I could stand staying out of it for too much longer," Maggie said, exasperated. 

  
Scully was about to ask her mother about it when Dr. Gregg and Marcy came out of the OR. The Scully women stood simultaneously. 

"How is he?" Scully asked as she rushed to them. 

"He's going to be just fine," Dr. Gregg answered with a smile. 

Scully hugged him first, then Marcy. "Can I see him?" she asked. 

"Soon," Marcy replied, "he's in recovery now. In about an hour he'll be set up in ICU, then you can see him." 

"He'll still be unconscious for a while. And I'm keeping him on a respirator for a day or two at least," Dr. Gregg warned. 

"So long as he's on good meds and nobody needs to use an ambu bag, I'm sure we can handle that," Scully responded with a smile. 

Dr. Gregg and Marcy went back into the OR as Maggie gave Scully a big hug. 

"See, I told you he'd be fine," she said, rubbing Scully's back. 

  
Later on Scully was admitted to the ICU, and led over to Mulder's bed. As Dr. Gregg had told her, he was indeed hooked up to the respirator. He had numerous IV's imbedded into his hands. His chest bandages peeked out from under the covers. She saw that his left leg had been elevated under the blanket. She had learned that the bullet, though causing a lot of blood loss, had not done any lasting damage. Her mom had come with her. She gave Mulder a quick kiss on his forehead and then did the same to Scully. 

"I'll be outside. Don't be too long, you need your rest, too," she told Scully. 

Scully knew her mother was right. She still had to make her statement to the police, too. She stayed just a few more minutes before she too kissed Mulder's forehead and left the ICU. 

  
Scully was back a few hours later. Her mother tried to convince her to come home with her and get some real bed rest, but Scully refused. Maggie knew deep down that it was a hopeless fight, but she had to try anyway. Scully entered the ICU. She checked with the nurses there on Mulder's condition. He hadn't woken up yet, but all his vital signs were good. Scully sat in the chair next to the bed. She took out the small piece of notebook paper from her pocket and reread it. A sad smile came to her face. 'Why does someone have to die or come close to dying for you to realize what they mean to you?' she thought, remembering her father's death, and her own thoughts about Mulder. 'Did Mulder write this because he thought he was going to die? Would he have told me this today anyway?' Her little voice was depressing her now. The stress and the hours were taking their toll, and soon she was asleep in the chair. Marcy and Dr. Gregg had come up to check on Mulder. Marcy gently put a blanket over Scully. Scully moved slightly, but did not wake up. 

  
Shortly after midnight, Scully had woken up to the smell of pizza. Scully eyed it suspiciously. 

The nurse told her "A tall bald man brought it. I think his name was, oh, shit, what was it?" the nurse thought out loud.

"Skinner, Walter Skinner. He's our boss at the FBI," Scully filled in the blank for the nurse. 

"Yeah, that's it. He said you wouldn't eat anything if it was left up to you to get it," she continued. 

Scully smiled. Skinner was right. She took a slice out and wafted it near Mulder's face. "Hey partner, this is what you get when you wake up."

She had a couple of slices and gave the rest to the ICU staff. She stayed with him throughout the night, sometimes dozing in the chair. Maggie stopped by around nine in the morning. 

"How is he doing?" she asked. 

"Good. Real good, mom," Scully answered. "Dr. Gregg is supposed to stop by around eleven," she continued. 

"The boys feel really guilty. They asked me to tell Fox that they're sorry they hurt him," Maggie said. Before Scully could comment, Maggie continued, "Don't worry, I told them that it wasn't their fault that Fox got hurt and that he's going to be just fine." 

"That's good. Give them our love," Scully said.

"I will. In fact, I can't stay too long. I have to get back and babysit again today," Maggie answered. 

"Alright, Mom. I'll see you later." 

Maggie got up and gave Mulder a kiss on the forehead and Scully a hug and a kiss. Scully sat back down. She found herself fingering that notepaper again. Dr. Gregg arrived at eleven, right on schedule. 

"Good morning, Dr. Scully. How's our patient this morning?" Dr. Gregg asked aloud as he was reading the chart. 

"Doing good, as far as we can tell," Scully answered him. 

"Let's see how he does without the respirator, okay?" Dr. Gregg said, gesturing for one of the ICU nurses to remove it. Scully held her breath as she waited for Mulder to take his. She exhaled with a smile as Mulder continued to breathe on his own. 

  
"Alright!" Dr. Gregg exclaimed. "Let's keep him on some O2, simple mask, 8LPM, and continue monitoring," Dr. Gregg wrote and verbalized his care orders to the ICU nurse. 

They quickly followed his orders by removing the endotracheal tube and placing an oxygen mask over Mulder's mouth and nose. 

  
"Thanks," Scully said, shaking his hand. 

  
"I'll check up again later," Dr. Gregg answered. 

  
Scully sank back down into the chair next to the bed. Sheer relief eased the stress out of her. She leaned her elbows onto the bed and again found herself fingering the note. She woke up later when she felt a hand caressing her cheek. She opened her eyes to see Mulder watching her. 

  
"Hey," she smiled at him. 

  
"Hey yourself," he rasped back, his voice edged by the soreness of his throat. Scully quickly got him a sip of water, carefully holding the straw under the oxygen mask.

"Thanks," he whispered. 

He saw the paper still in her hand and took it, holding it up, questioningly.

"I have to save it," she said, raising her eyebrows. "It's my first love letter from you." 

He smiled and closed his eyes. "Not the first one I've written though," he said, his voice barely audible. 

Scully smiled. "I've got a few unsent ones for you, too," she said. "Mom's been here," Scully said suddenly. "She sends her love. She'll be by later, she has to watch the boys again today," Scully continued, not sure if she was ready for the love letter conversation. "The boys said they were sorry for hurting you." 

"Well, I guess I won't be playing any full contact sports for a while," Mulder said, almost cheerfully. 

'Okay,' her little voice told her. 'You CAN'T pass this one up.' So Scully got closer to him. "Not even some one on one?" she countered, eyes bright, eyebrows raised. 

  
Back at the ICU nurses' station, one of the alarm monitors started beeping and the nurses headed to the patient's bed, ready to resuscitate. They stopped when they found their patient getting some mouth to mouth resuscitation of a different kind.   



End file.
